1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of furnace assemblies in which separating walls are used to isolate melting, settling and exhaust spaces in the furnace, the separating walls being provided with means for circulating a coolant therethrough which means are integrated with the exterior walls of the furnace assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the case of known pyrometallurgical furnace installations such, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,164, finely divided ore concentrate is continuously roasted and melted in a melting aggregate in an oxygen-rich gas atmosphere. The melt is separated from the gas which is formed, as well as from dust, in a melting chamber. The gas and dust are drawn off into an exhaust gas shaft which is adjacent to the melting chamber, while the melt and slag which has collected on the floor of the melting chamber pass into a settling hearth for further treatment of the melt and removal of the slag which passes under a furnace separating wall depending from above into the melt bath.
The furnace walls which come into contact with the hot corrosive gases as well as with the hot metal or with the slag must be completely fireproof and have to be cooled. In the case of the known furnace installations, for example, the separating wall which depends from above into the melt bath and which extends over the entire width of the furnace for the separation of the melt collecting space from the settling hearth is a hollow wall provided with cooling pipes. If the furnace separating wall extending over the total furnace width consists of a single piece, then the separating wall is no longer transportable and erectable due to its substantial weight and size. Thermal stresses in such a separating wall cannot be compensated for. If, on the other hand, the furnace wall were in the form of a bricked structure, the erosion by means of the corrosive slag melt would be excessive. It is inherently obvious that such a wall would have to be cooled and in addition would have to be embodied in a self-supporting structure.